Sunday, February 22, 2004

Chris Gudgeon, An Unfinished Conversation: The Life and Music of Stan Rogers.

Paul, the interim organist at my church lent me this book. I'd been giving him a lift home, and "Northwest Passage" played from my CD player. We talked about Stan's music--thoroughly boring my other passenger--and Paul told stories about what Stan was like. This prompted Paul to lend me the book. Thanks, Paul.

Now, having said that, I was somewhat disappointed by the book. I had been expecting something weightier, something more akin to those academic biographies which I'm so used to reading--the kind that stretch to 600+ pages... and this book is not that. It's a relaxed, largely uncritical look at Stan's life. It's more designed for public consumption than for academia, and when considered in that light, it's good at what it sets out to do. It also ends with Stan's lyrics, which are irresistible in and of themselves. And hey, with a recipe for grog--and a great parody of "Barrett's Privateers" about grog, how could it be a bad book?

So I just need to remember to accept books as I find them, without expecting them to be something other than what they are. Accept the pig without faulting it for not being a giraffe, and such.

A Useful Thought about Reading...

"Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer's work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader's recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book's truth."- À la recherche du temps perdu.

Books on the Go

I frequently forget to update this as I move through things. When I do update it, I'm generally in the midst of a book I expect I may spend some time reading.

Beautiful & Pointless

- David Orr

(as of September 20, 2011)

A Vague Disclaimer is Nobody's Friend

My blog entries are my opinions. They are only opinions. Ça c'est tout. My opinions can, and do, change. Sometimes. When I quote, I endeavour to do so accurately. I welcome both email and posted comments with differing opinions.